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WWE Raw Reax #1: "The Trump announcement was just... garbage, like a vacuum, sucking out any sort of energy or believability."
Jun 16, 2009 - 11:43:37 AM
Bonnie Svitavsky (Young Adult Librarian) of Puyallup, Wash. (5.0): Best Match: Punk - Edge - Hardy. Worst Match: Fatal Four-way. Ugh to that four-way for the championship. It was like watching two feuds going one at once in the ring... except aren't both of those feuds done and over with? Or shouldn't they be? And that line about Randy Orton being invincible... I mean, after last week's massive pummeling (without a sledge hammer, by the by), doesn't it seem like incredibly poor timing to have a magazine cover with Orton proclaimed as invincible? The poor marketing team must be crying. The Trump announcement was just... garbage. I know the crowd sounded dead, but the announcement was like a vacuum, sucking out any sort of energy or believability. There are just so many other people that would've been better "purchasers" for Raw, if you had to go that route. I was sure that we were going to get Ric Flair as the new GM. The Punk-Edge-Hardy match was just awesome. I was not in favor of them doing a triple-threat match after the results of Smackdown, but this was great, with some pretty cool spots. On a side note, Hardy's makeup was soooo cool to look at. I hope he keeps photos of these faces in his portfolio. And on another side note... did Punk lose a bet to someone so that he had to announce it was clobberin' time? Because that was hilarious. And I liked his mention of Misawa on his wristband. This was the match of the night and actually got me excited again.... It was kind of like a roller coaster climbing up a steep incline, getting me geared up for the rest of the show... which turns out to be an incredibly lame drop. As for the Battle Royal, what a terrible waste - building up Miz, a good heal attack on Goldust and Hornswoggle, having him wait out that entire match, only to just go over the rope. I mean... this was practically a recognition of what could've been a cool storyline twist, and then it figuratively flying into the trash. At the very least, Miz could've tossed Cena over the ropes and that would've progressed things. I'm just so disappointed that I have to watch the same crappy storyline and the same tired feud. *weep* And is it wrong that I still so thoroughly enjoy the Macho Man DVD commercial?
Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (7.0): Best: Edge vs. Jeff vs. Punk Worst: Christian vs. Dreamer; Mickie vs. Rosa What this show was and what this show could have been were two totally different things. Does Rey get it how stupid he looks in his past two losses? In order for his style of mask to be removed or put out of place the chin strap has to be unfastened. It was clearly unfastened both times. Some value to the mask, eh, Rey? The Orton-Cena promo was a painful reminder of how much credibility The Punt has lost, not to mention Orton getting a verbal burial. There were so many other things that Vince could have done, besides keeping Raw: bring Ric Flair in (which the crowd clearly wanted), have Shawn Michaels return in a non-wrestling GM role (which would ease him into his first match feud when he's more physically ready), or do something outrageous like promote Tiffany from ECW to Raw. I would almost take Hornswoggle being named GM of Raw than have McMahon vs. Trump II (which looks to have a SummerSlam collision). And Vince is suffering from post-Punt amnesia since he congratulated Randy Orton for his title win. For the record, it still should have happened when Batista didn't answer the ten count. On top of that, Trump was very Memorex, and Vince looked like he didn't know what was on the taped promo. Wow, has the women's division been in a free fall or what? Rosa Mendes had no business being in the ring tonight. Beth should have been in there if for no other reason than keep Rosa from looking that bad. Dreamer vs. Christian wasn't that much better, unfortunately. Well, Miz, it's been nice knowing you; time to head back to midcard before you get a chance to run with any big dogs. The promo was good in that it did get serious heat for Miz, but Goldust and Hornswoggle are too far down the totem pole to be taken seriously. Which one between Miz and Morrison is Marty Jannetty now? Punk has explained his motives efficiently to enough people now. It's time to move on and book him in a credible title run to take the attention off how he got the title. He's a face-leaning tweener, which is fine by me. While I'm not familiar with Misawa, I did figure that Punk would do the respect honors. I liked the statement that Ross made during the three-way: "when the bell rings Punk might as well be the challenger". It was akin to a statement made during the Michaels-Hart precursor ladder match that no one was the champion once the belt was set up overhead. I'll be curious to see how long the clock keeps ticking after D.H. SMith's horrible performance tonight. The Primo hurracanrana wasn't the only mis-timed move during the show, but it was the closest one to getting a match booed out of the the ring. The fact that Kidd didn't see ring action may have helped him stay from the chopping block if it gets used. Jeff loses a contender's match because Edge intentionally caused a DQ. Long puts him back due to how he was DQ'd. Okay, I can go with that. So then how does Jeff get another shot when Punk retains against both of them? Simply because he wasn't the one who did the job? Excuse me? Wonder if Sherri Shepherd will be the reason behind MVP missig his entrance cue. Just for grins and giggles I would have had the hibernating Miz win the battle royal, especially when it was announced that Orton vs. Triple H was going to be a Last Man Standing match for the Monday before The Bash. At least this way, if Miz gets no more big-dog time at least he can make an "I Beat Cena" claim that would stick.
Alex Roberts in the UK (4.5): Best Match: Mysterio vs. Jericho. Worst Match: The Battle Royal. Against my better judgement I tuned into Raw this week with incredibly low expectations and for the first hour or so the WWE blew me out of the water. Jericho-Mysterio had another excellent outing that did a great job of selling future PPV matches between the two of them and advancing the Title vs. Mask match that's to come at The Bash. Vince's announcement that he was 'selling' Raw was interesting and opened up new avenues. The ECW Title match was short but inoffensive and even the WWE Title match (which I was dreading walking in) was surprisingly good fun and had an exciting finishing period. Then everything fell apart, coincidently the second Vince announced Trump the new owner of Raw. That announcement fell completely flat. It actually made some degree of sense and if they handle it right there are a lot of possible options open to them beyond the predictable Team Trump vs. Team McMahon match for control of Raw but right now nobody cares and the awkward badly pre-taped Trump dialogue didn't help matters. For a brief moment the weekly Miz highlight (is it wrong that I got a weird kick out of him shooting a midget?) made me think things might pick back up again but that was false hope because it was followed by a Punk promo. CM Punk has fast become the worst promo guy in the WWE, which is quite an achievement when you consider his competition. Every week I expect him to sprout roots or have an irrational fear that he'll misread one of his cue cards. This isn't strictly speaking his fault, he just can't fit into the WWE promo model and they're not willing to bend for him. Matters are made worse by Punk being completely dead in the water until he turns heel. All this tweener foreshadowing of a heel turn should have been done before he cashed in against Hardy because fans just aren't prepared to cheer him now. He got no reaction for his entrance and worse yet no reaction for his win. The WWE needs to bite the bullet and turn him heel because this tweener role simply isn't going to work opposite Hardy. As it is I get the impression they'll continue to tread water with Punk until Hardy decides if he's staying or going because if Hardy opts to take time off they'll need Punk as a face on Smackdown. The triple threat match was fairly lifeless because the crowd didn't care about anyone not named Jeff Hardy and neither Edge nor Punk could overcome that. I was amazed by Rhodes and DiBiase being on commentary for the tag team match and then they opened their mouths and made it clear why they don't get more mic time. Not only did they mangle the English language with sentences like 'you make us look more better than we already do' I'm pretty sure one of them got the name of the Pay-Per-View wrong. Also I think I'm going to need someone to explain how Legacy and The Hart Dynasty are two different gimmicks, I don't see it. The Santino/Vince segment was awkward and didn't really work. Since Vince isn't in charge why does Santino care about offending him anyway? Just awkward. The Battle Royal main event was a crushing disaster on multiple levels and did Triple H really need to alternate his entrance themes during the show? Disappointment number one is that MVP's push came to a screeching halt when he was eliminated second. His fate should have been obvious when his first appearance on a 3-hour show came in the form of a promotional video for an overseas tour. I want to blame the return of Triple H for MVP's push dying (and will) but in fairness MVP has had zero reaction since he first moved to Raw and you could hear a pin drop during his entrance tonight, which just painful so its hard to say the WWE should be pushing him. Of course if they hadn't fumbled his post-draft momentum this wouldn't be a problem. Other crushing blows come from Legacy generally looking like idiots, again. The uninspiring booking of the match. The fact that I didn't really understand why any of these men were worthy of a title shot. And then The Miz. The WWE came so close to getting it right. His return from a fake elimination was excellent and for a brief second I was excited then he was regressed months (if not years) to a punchline by Triple H and Cena. It was bad booking and there's no way around that. Can someone, anyone, explain why he didn't eliminate Cena to continue their angle? It would have made perfect sense and then as he celebrates throwing Cena out Triple H eliminates him. Or you could even let him look competitive against Triple H. Instead we get a pointless remember who the real stars are piece of booking that didn't accomplish anything for anyone involved. The fact that Triple H won would be the final crushing blow of the Battle Royal but a predictable one. Of course he won because God knows the world is dying to see another Triple H-Orton match. The WWE then managed to put one final boot in before the show ended with Trump's final announcement. I'd say the plus side of moving what feels like the annual Triple H-Randy Orton Last Man Standing Match to Raw is that they're not expecting to build a PPV around it but in truth I suspect we'll see a draw next week to set up a rematch at The Bash or we'll see Triple H win and Orton get a rematch at The Bash and we'll be subjected to yet more of this ego trip. And to think this show started so well...
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